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Find candidates who are owed an update, with the day count

  • For Recruiters
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Advanced

About this exercise

Using today's date, Nov 9, 2026, return a table with the header Candidate | Last contact | Business days since | Owed update?. Count business days (Monday to Friday) after the last contact date up to and including Nov 9. Owed update? is Yes if 5 or more business days have passed, otherwise No. Sort by business days, largest first. Plain text, no bold. Last line exactly: Updates owed: N. Do not draft any messages.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Counting calendar days. The AI counts weekends. Try: Say: "Count Monday to Friday only, after the last contact date through Nov 9."
  • Drafting messages. The AI writes update emails. Try: Say: "Do not draft any messages."
  • Order and header. The AI keeps tracker order. Try: Say: "Header exactly as given; sort largest first."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each part instead, for example: "each line under 15 words."
  • Markdown. The AI bolds words or adds headings. Try: Say: "Plain text, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Exact header
  • Business days
  • Sort
  • Last line
  • Today

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